


I'm taking a chance on the lesson I learned

by lifewasradical



Series: Band Bonding [3]
Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Alex is having a Lot Of Thoughts, Cooking, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, How the hell do I tag this, Hurt, M/M, band bonding part 3!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:15:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28990560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifewasradical/pseuds/lifewasradical
Summary: “If your house catches on fire, it’s not my fault,” Jack warns, brandishing a spatula like a weapon, one hand on his hip.“Calm down, I’m not going to let you burn the house down, Jack. We’re just following a simple recipe for mac and cheese, it’s nearly impossible to mess up,” Rian counters, arching an eyebrow as if he’s waiting for Jack to say something snarky back.Or, Band Bonding Part Three
Relationships: Jack Barakat/Alex Gaskarth
Series: Band Bonding [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2110224
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	I'm taking a chance on the lesson I learned

**Author's Note:**

> Okay!!! Here we are at part 3!!! Only one more band bonding left!! Honestly, I was really lost with what to do for Rian's, but lovely Shal said "hm maybe cooking?" and I was like WAIT there's a plot here, let's GO!. 
> 
> That being said, here's part 3 of band bonding, enjoy! 
> 
> Title from Tooth and Nail by State Champs

“If your house catches on fire, it’s not my fault,” Jack warns, brandishing a spatula like a weapon, one hand on his hip. 

“Calm down, I’m not going to let you burn the house down, Jack. We’re just following a simple recipe for mac and cheese, it’s nearly impossible to mess up,” Rian counters, arching an eyebrow as if he’s waiting for Jack to say something snarky back. 

“Is that a challenge?” Jack says, a slightly devious smile on his face as he tries to tie an apron around his waist, failing miserably. 

“Just shut up and follow the instructions,” Zack complains, rolling his eyes as he washes his hands at the sink. 

Jack turns to Alex, pouting dramatically as he swings the apron ties around in front of him, begging Alex to help him out with the ties. Alex smiles, just a little twitch of his lips and gestures for Jack to turn around. If he lets his hands run across Jack’s sides when he grabs the strings, neither him nor Jack say anything about it. Alex ties it snug, letting his hand rest on the small of Jack’s back as he circles back in front of him, nodding to signal that Jack is all set to move again. 

Jack beams, eyes glittering with excitement, but still a bit of apprehension there after the stunt at the laser tag arena a few days ago. Alex can’t blame him, still feeling slightly guilty about the whole situation, letting Rian’s want to win cloud his judgement. 

If he was going to kiss Jack, it had to happen somewhere more personal, in a way that wouldn’t leave Alex embarrassed to talk about ever again. But, still, Alex pushes that thought away, trying to avoid the thought process that comes with accepting that he really wants to kiss Jack, not just for the cameras. 

“Okay, we need to divide and conquer,” Rian says, reading over the recipe to make sure that he has all the ingredients out and ready. Rian decided to have everyone over for dinner as his band bonding activity, ignoring Jack’s jabs that he only chose that because he’s “ _ too boring and has no hobbies besides cold brew and talking about how much he loves drumming.” _

“I call whatever lets me use a sharp knife!” Jack insists, pulling the largest knife out of the block and swinging it wildly. 

“For the love of god,” Zack groans, grabbing Jack’s wrist and taking the knife from him, “You’re gonna kill one of us.” 

Jack purses his lips, leaning forward to try to kiss Zack’s cheek, “I would never kill you, Zacky.”

“So!” Rian interrupts, clapping his hands, “Alex, work on boiling the noodles. Jack, you can use a much smaller knife to cut up vegetables for the salad. Zack, think we can work together on the sauce?” 

Alex watches Jack roll his eyes and remove a smaller, more appropriately sized knife from the block while whining that “ _ no one in this band lets me have any fun.” _ Alex almost wants to give him the larger knife just to bring the smile back to his face. Instead, he turns to get some water boiling. 

Rian turns music on in the meantime, hitting shuffle on his phone and laughing when The Maine plays first. Jack groans loudly, throwing his head back dramatically, “We get it Rian, you like The Maine more than us. Maybe you should have just taken us to one of their concerts for band bonding so we could watch a  _ real _ band play.” 

Alex tunes out the arguing that commences, instead focusing on watching the bubbles form at the bottom of the pot. He watches as they rise to the surface slowly, bopping once they reach the top. Beside him, Zack hums under his breath as he melts down butter, chuckling when he catches Rian or Jack make a particularly amusing jab at the other. 

Things fall silent in the kitchen for a moment and Alex looks over his shoulder quickly, watching Jack concentrate on cutting everything into vaguely similar shapes. He can’t help the smile that pops up and the way his eyes soften at the scene, even if it throws him off a little bit. 

“Keep your eyes on your own work,” Zack mumbles under his breath, tilting his elbow up to tap Alex’s arm. Alex flushes red but does as he’s told, feeling like he’s back in school being reprimanded by his teachers for cheating on a test. It’s almost similar, being caught staring at Jack unnecessarily. He pours the box of noodles into the pot, stirring absentmindedly. 

“Motherfucker,” Jack hisses, rapidly dropping the knife and squeezing his hand tightly. His eyes are clenched shut, lip pulled between his teeth as he bounces up and down a little as if that’s going to help his pain. Alex just barely resists the urge to take the three steps across the kitchen to help Jack. 

“What happened?” Rian finally asks, turning away from where he was grating cheese into a bowl. Zack doesn’t even turn around, pointedly keeping himself out of the situation unfolding. 

“I cut my finger open cutting the fucking carrots. Why the hell do carrots look so much like fingers,” Jack whines, opening his hand and closing it again quickly before he can even look at it. 

Jack takes off down the hallway, mumbling something about going to find a bandaid. Alex feels his absence the moment he’s no longer in eyesight, longing just to be occupying the same space as Jack once again. It’s almost like the air is colder and all the colors are muted and muddy. His world just feels  _ off.  _

Alex looks up from the pot of noodles to see Rian looking at him expectantly. Alex doesn’t say anything, just tilts his head a little to silently ask Rian what’s wrong. Rian rolls his eyes, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the hallway, “Go see if he’s okay!” 

As if that finally kickstarts Alex’s mind, he spins on his heel and follows the direction Jack went, ignoring Rian’s grumblings of “what an idiot” over his shoulder. He trails down towards the bathroom, hearing the faucet running from down the hall. When he’s almost at the slightly ajar door, Alex takes a moment to compose himself, realizing that this is the first time that he’s been alone with Jack since The Incident, as he’s referring to it in his mind. 

“Jack?” he calls, knocking once before pushing the door further open, watching Jack rinsing his pointer finger off under the running tap. Jack turns his head up, smiling weakly as he turns the water off, wrapping his finger in a tissue. 

  
“I’m fine,” Jack says confidently, nodding once as he struggles to pull a bandaid out from the box with one hand. He drops it onto the tile floor, whispering a soft “ _ dammit” _ under his breath as he bends down to get the box. 

Alex beats him to it, swiftly pulling a bandaid from the package and starting to open it. Jack stands in silence, looking like he doesn’t know what to do with himself. “Can I?” Alex asks, already gently taking Jack’s hand. He opens the wrapper and makes quick work of securing the adhesive parts around Jack’s finger. Alex tosses the paper backing in the trash before standing up straight again, looking anywhere but Jack’s eyes, afraid of what he’ll see there. 

Instead, Alex takes in the way that Jack’s body language screams uncomfortable, itching to escape the close confines of the bathroom. Alex hates that he’s done that to Jack, made it so he doesn’t want to be in the same room as him. But at the same time, his mind can’t help but scream that Jack leaned into the almost kiss, that Jack had wanted to be kissed. Wanted to be kissed by Alex, his mind corrects, offering a small slice of reassurance that things may someday be okay again. 

In an effort to break the tension, Alex lifts Jack’s hand, pressing a kiss to the bandaid. He hears the way that Jack sucks in a breath, just a small gasp of air that rings in the silence. Jack’s lips stay parted, almost ready to say something else when Alex offers a small smile, “I’ve heard that kisses make everything better.” 

Jack blinks at Alex, face dangerously void of any emotions. Then, suddenly, it’s as if the wheels start turning again and Jack springs back to life, a small private smile on his face as he takes a step forward into Alex’s space. He licks his lips and Alex tracks the movement, focusing in on the way Jack opens his mouth again to speak, “Well, I think there’s something else you can fix with a kiss, too.” 

Alex lets his jaw drop as he inhales sharply and his stomach flips, hoping that he’s understanding Jack’s signs correctly. He shifts forwards on his feet, just enough to tilt his body more towards Jack’s. Jack mirrors the movement, hands twitching in the empty space. Alex takes Jack’s hands in his, careful to avoid Jack’s wounded finger, but lightly laces their fingers together. They both adjust slightly forward, enough where Alex can almost feel the breath coming from Jack’s parted lips, and all it would take is one single movement to end their suffering, just one-

“Get back out here, this is meant to be band bonding!” Rian shouts from the kitchen, breaking the moment completely. Alex physically shudders, closing his eyes as if it would keep his brain from registering what’s happening around him. He opens them again as Jack scoffs, looking up at the ceiling to find the answers in the speckled white above him. Alex takes the blossoming thought of doing  _ something _ to Jack’s throat and shoves it aside quickly, shaking his head slightly. 

“Let’s go, can’t keep them waiting,” Jack smiles, squeezing Alex’s hands, fingers still intertwined. Alex forces a smile, caught up in his head as he lets Jack lead him back towards the kitchen. 

Alex can’t help but think about what would have happened if they had followed through and actually kissed. Sure, they’ve kissed before, but never in a moment like that, never when they were alone and it wasn’t for show. Yeah, they got pretty close last time, but if Alex thinks hard enough, he can convince himself that it was for the greater good of Band Bonding, not for his own personal gain. 

But when it’s just him and Jack, confined by the light blue walls of Rian’s first-floor bathroom, tucked away from their bandmates under the assumption that Alex is helping Jack with his injury, things feel different. There’s a certain electricity in the air, filling Alex’s body with fireflies blinking rapidly and bumping into one another. He feels like he could float if he isn’t careful, lifting right off the floor and flying high above Jack’s head, just to watch him from above. 

He’s tethered to the ground by Jack’s hand in his and the fireflies are quieted by the sunshine that is Jack’s smile, brightening the world around him. Alex thinks that he would let Jack lead him anywhere he wanted. 

“Took you long enough,” Zack huffs as he’s putting a large bowl of mac and cheese on the dining room table. Rian's smile is just a little bit too knowing for Alex’s liking, shining with something that makes his skin crawl. He ignores it, instead electing to take his seat at the table, tracing the lines in the wood with his eyes as something to occupy his time. 

Jack sits down next to him and Alex thinks he imagines Jack scooching his chair over just a little so he’s closer to Alex. He zones out of the conversation the guys are having, hearing nothing but background noise as he takes a moment to admire Jack’s profile, the way his eyes sparkle under the low lights and he beams as he laughs along with something said. Alex doesn’t even try to stop his mind from going down a train of thought revolving around how absolutely breathtaking Jack looks when he’s at peace, sitting across the table from the band. 

Alex forces himself to take a helping of the dinner that they so carefully crafted despite feeling like he’s too on edge to eat. He takes small bites, savoring the fact that yeah, they really did manage to make this meal as the four of them without any actual arguments and with no major casualties, only dissolving into chaos once or twice. He’s thankful for these moments when it’s just them, reconnecting and getting back to their roots of just the four of them and no one else. 

Dinner continues around him, conversation flowing from food to sports to whatever else casually. It’s almost easy to pretend that nothing is different about the dynamic, that things are the same as they always have been and always will be. As much as he wants to pretend it's not real, Alex can’t avoid the reality of the way that Jack hooks his ankle around Alex’s under the table, connecting them together where Rian and Zack can’t see them. He also can’t ignore the little smile that graces Jack’s face, as if there’s a secret that only he knows. 

Alex thinks that he might be in on that secret too. 

But he lets that thought rest, at least for now, and forces himself to enjoy the rest of the night surrounded by his friends. Maybe his laugh is a little stiff and his jokes fall flat, but he doesn’t think that any of them are really paying that close attention to him, instead taking jabs at one another and sharing memories. 

Yet, the only thing that Alex finds memorable here is the sound of Jack’s laugh and the warmth of his leg pressed against Jack’s. In this moment, Alex vows to himself that he’s going to make his band bonding the best and most life changing of the four. He’s not about to let another moment pass him by. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Talk to me on Tumblr [lifewasradical](https://lifewasradical.tumblr.com) 💜


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